Inside the SM Entertainment building, there was utter chaos.  Certainly, it had become milder since ten minutes ago, but nobody could deny that all the occupants of the glass structure were still in an uproar – people running this way and that, screaming incoherently, more shouts exchanged… Minseok was rather satisfied with the results, in a way.

Sporting a dark trench coat over a drab outfit and donning a bowler hat, he blended perfectly into the backdrop of busy people rushing around in a busy city.  People pushed past him without so much of an apology, but anyhow, he treasured anonymity and invisibility.

He did not have to walk through the heavy double glass doors to know what had occurred.  A lazy smile hidden by a moustache he wasn’t sure he wanted to keep appeared and he murmured into his turned-up collars, “All knocked out one way or the other.  Poor Tao; never really intended to give him that laxative.  Can’t help it though.  Nearly underestimated his capabilities, unfortunately.”

It could only be expected for everyone to be thrown into a state of confusion when their stars were found unconscious. 

A police car sped past him, barely screeching to a halt in front of SM building before two policemen practically leaped out and disappeared through the entrance.  Someone must have gotten a big enough shock to involve the law, and the idea amused Minseok, really.

Eventually, night began seeping in, the noise died down and a sense of normalcy was restored.  Somewhat disappointed, he grimaced ruefully at the structure he once called home. 

How quickly things change in the span of three months.

An old man shuffled by and paused to inspect Minseok.  The man blinked his rheumy eyes several times, then asked, “What are you were for?”  Not bothering to await a reply, he hobbled off once more.

Minseok considered the question seriously.  He had come to exact revenge, in a sense, but ‘revenge’ was not the accurate word.  A suitable quote half resurfaced in his foggy mind.  What was it again?  Something about scheming and lost things.  All he recalled was that late afternoon from no more than six months ago, the chance re-encountering of the book in which he had highlighted this antagonizing, elusive quote.

Laughing mirthlessly, he pushed himself off the grass and simply stood where he was, eyes trained onto the SM building.  According to his unreliable memory, the quote went along the lines of, “What was lost was lost.”  Yes, that was close enough; the general gist of things.

Too many things had been lost here overnight – his dreams, hopes, future… his reputation.  In one fell swoop, he had been stripped of everything that ever mattered.

Then back to the old man’s query, of what business did he have?  That little stunt he’d staged – what purpose did it serve?  He couldn’t undo the past.  Even if he brought the entire EXO down with him, it wouldn’t, couldn’t change anything whatsoever.

One end of a painful smile curled up in bitterness.  Just like the quote said, what was lost was lost.  No amount of clever underhanded plans would make a difference. 

Life moved on, and one would have to move along with it; that was how the world functioned.

“不能回到以前了。”  One cannot return to the past.

Abruptly, the rather stocky male his heels, coattails flying up in a purposeful manner, and left, not once looking back.

What was lost was lost. There was no retrieving it, however you schemed, no returning to how things were, no going back.